FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional refrigerator, FIG. 2 is a front view of a guide rail shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of a region where the guide rail shown in FIG. 1 is installed. As shown in these figures, the refrigerator comprises a body 11 with a freezing chamber 21 and a refrigerating chamber 31 formed at both sides of a vertically arranged partition 13, and a freezing chamber door 23 and a refrigerating chamber door 33 hingedly coupled to the body 11 to open and close front openings of the freezing and refrigerating chambers 21 and 31, respectively.
The interiors of the freezing and refrigerating chambers 21 and 31 are provided with a plurality of shelves 25 and 35 arranged at vertical intervals to be spaced apart from one another, for partitioning inner spaces of the chambers and simultaneously supporting stored goods thereon.
A drawer 37, which can be taken out in a fore and aft direction, is provided at a lower region of the refrigerator 31. Both side edges of the drawer 37 are formed with flanges 38 that protrude widthwise and extend in the fore and aft direction.
Guide rails 41 are installed on both sidewalls of the refrigerating chamber 31 to extend in the fore and aft direction, thereby guiding the withdrawal and reception of the drawer 37 from and in the refrigerating chamber. Each of the guide rails 41 is formed with a receiving groove 42 such that the corresponding flange 38 of the drawer 37 can be received in and engaged with the receiving groove. Screw holes 43 are formed through the guide rails within the receiving grooves 42 so that the guide rails 41 can be fastened to the both sidewalls of the refrigerating chamber 31 by means of screws 45. Rollers 44 are provided at front regions of the guide rails to be in rolling contact with the flanges 38 of the drawer 37.
Meanwhile, the body 11 comprises an outer case 51 for defining an external appearance, and an inner case 52 for defining the freezing and refrigerating chambers 21 and 31 arranged inside the outer case 51 to be spaced apart therefrom with a filling gap that will be filled with a foam insulation material 57.
Regions on a portion of the inner case 52 defining the refrigerating chamber 31 where the guide rails 41 will be installed are formed with through-holes 53 through which the screws 45 penetrate. A bushing 55 embedded in the wall of the refrigerator body is inserted into and coupled to each of the through-holes 53 at a side of the bushing. The bushing 55 is formed with a screw hole 56 through which the screw 45 is inserted.
However, such a conventional refrigerator has a problem in that since the bushings 55 should be inserted into and coupled to the respective through-holes 53 and a foaming operation should be performed by injecting the foam insulation material 57 in the form of liquid into the space between the inner and outer cases 52 and 51, the foam insulation material 57 leaks into the interior of the refrigerator through the through-holes 53 during the foaming operation. If tapes are attached around the bushings 55 in consideration of this problem, there are problems in that it takes a great deal of time and efforts to prepare the foaming operation and the leak of the foam insulation material 57 into the interior of the refrigerator through the through-holes 53 cannot be fundamentally avoided.